Experience of growing dogwood in the Ural region

On the basis of literature data and my experience, I consider the following technology most acceptable for growing dogwood plants in the Ural conditions. Any dogwood plants - both cultivated varietal and seedlings - should be grown in the usual natural bush form with all trunks and branches bending to the ground in autumn and covering them with snow after it falls. Before snow falls, the bent parts to protect from frost, where at the soil level the night air temperatures may even be several degrees lower than at a height of 1-1.5 m, must be covered with burlap, rags, coniferous branches, nonwoven material, and so on. ... In order to reduce the size of the area occupied by bent trunks and branches and reduce the labor intensity of covering it with snow or insulation materials, the trunks and branches should be bent only on one side. To facilitate the bending of the trunks and branches to the ground, it is possible to practice the constant systematic replacement of very thick old trunks with thinner young ones.

Landing

For growing dogwood, you should choose the warmest southern, southeastern and southwestern open gentle slopes. Although in places of their natural growth, dogwood plants grow well and bear fruit with significant shade, in our conditions they should be grown only in open places with good sunlight throughout the day. With this cultivation, their growth improves, fruit buds appear faster and fruits ripen, and most importantly, shoot wood, bark and cambium ripen much earlier. Although dogwood is a plant that is not very demanding on soil conditions and can grow on different soils, but in our climatic conditions, when faster growth and quick completion are required, light, fertile, well-air and permeable soils are most suitable for planting. Cornel responds well to the high content of calcium in the soil. Therefore, our soils intended for growing dogwood require liming. Cornel is a drought-resistant plant, but good growth and good fruiting occurs only with constant moderate soil moisture. Therefore, in our country, it requires frequent watering, especially in the hot summer months.

Since the size of dogwood plants in our conditions, due to the lower growth rate than in the south, is not very large, 4x4, 3x4, 3x3 m schemes are suitable for planting them.Now I have two dogwood bushes growing at a distance of 3 m and do not interfere each other. Seedlings are planted in shallow planting pits, since the root system of the dogwood is superficial. The dimensions of the planting pit: diameter 1-1.2 m, depth 50-60 cm. The pit is filled with humus mixed with surface soil without the addition of mineral fertilizers. In the case of poor soil, superphosphate and ash can be placed on the bottom of the pit. In our conditions, planting seedlings is best done in early spring, immediately after the soil thaws, before the buds begin to swell. After planting, irrigation must be carried out with at least two buckets of water. The aerial part of the plant is not cut off when planting, since its powerful root system provides all the water needs. Since the dogwood is a cross-pollinated plant, for inter-pollination it is imperative to plant either two seedlings or two seedlings of different shapes or varieties.

Dogwood care

Caring for dogwood plants begins in spring and consists in loosening row spacings and very shallow loosening under young bushes, removing weeds, and, if necessary, for watering and fertilizing. Of great importance for the surface root system of dogwood, when it is very close to the soil surface in older plants, mulching of near-stem circles is very important.In this case, no loosening of the near-trunk circles should be carried out. Any organic materials are used as mulch - grass, straw, hay and others. To enhance plant growth and better fruit setting in the first half of summer, liquid nitrogen fertilizing with slurry, mullein, bird droppings works well. In my practice, liquid top dressing with herbal infusion has shown themselves well. In the second half of summer, for a faster completion of growth, liquid fertilizing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers can be used. Liquid fertilizing was carried out by me in the holes, made with a crowbar in several places of the trunk circle. Plants were watered abundantly before and immediately after feeding, and the holes were covered with a thicker layer of mulch.

Dogwood plants, with normal growth, do not require any special pruning, except, perhaps, very thick trunks that are not very convenient for bending down in autumn and the need to replace them with thinner young ones. In mature fruiting plants, minor pruning to thin the crown for better lighting and sanitary pruning to remove frozen, dry and intertwining branches may be required. In case of severe freezing or freezing of individual branches, pruning for healthy wood is already required. Plants cut in this way respond well to pruning and, if the living branches at the base of the bush are preserved, they quickly restore the crown and bear fruit quickly and well.

Dogwood propagation

Dogwood propagation can be carried out by seeds and vegetatively - by layering, green and lignified cuttings, spring grafting with a cuttings and summer budding with a sleeping eye. Seed reproduction does not guarantee the preservation of maternal parameters in the resulting offspring, and in places of widespread dogwood culture, it is mainly used to obtain rootstocks when propagating cultivars by grafting. In new, more northerly places, which include the Sverdlovsk region, where they did not cultivate dogwood, its seed reproduction, especially with numerous reseeding and selection of the most winter-hardy forms in each crop, can produce plants more adapted to these climatic conditions. At the same time, the delivery of seeds for sowing from more northern areas of dogwood culture can also contribute to the production of more resistant plants. Therefore, I believe that seed propagation of dogwood should be widely used in our country. For the past 2 years, I have been systematically practicing annual autumn sowing of my own dogwood seeds.

However, breed dogwood seeds rather difficult due to the difficulty of germination of its seeds, which have very deep dormancy and have very dense seed coats. Seeds sown in autumn partially germinate in the second, and the bulk - in the third, and even the fourth year. Presowing seed preparation requires long-term stratification. In practice, in the presence of greenhouses, the following method of stratification of dogwood seeds showed good results. Freshly harvested seeds are placed in boxes with wet sand (moss, sawdust) and placed in a greenhouse, in which there is a layer of manure (better than horse manure) 40 cm thick, then a layer of earth of 10 cm. The germination rate reaches 70-80%. Before laying the seeds for stratification, a prerequisite is their preliminary soaking in water for 3 days. The water must be changed to speed up the physiological processes necessary for seed germination. At the same time, very good results are obtained by placing the seeds for some time under running water from the tap, which helps to wash out substances that inhibit germination from the dense seed coats.

Dogwood reproduces very easily layering... The essence of the method is that the branches growing close to the soil surface are bent and laid in shallow grooves, and the tops are brought out.The branch is fixed at the bottom of the groove with a hook, the groove is buried and watered during the entire growth period as it dries. For faster and better rooting at the bend, the branches are tied with soft wire. That is, this method is no different from those of propagation methods for currants, gooseberries and other plants, but gives a limited number of seedlings. Dogwood propagation green and lignified cuttings less desirable in hobby gardening, as it requires artificial fogging greenhouses and the use of growth substances. Although, under the right conditions, it gives good results and can be successfully applied. The best way to breed dogwoods in hobby gardening is vaccinations, allowing you to get seedlings of very many cultivars and different forms that differ in some special properties. Two-three-year-old seedlings of dogwood are used for grafting; in some cases, its offspring can also be used as a stock.

Among other plant species, experiments were carried out using white svidina as a rootstock. Dogwood plants took root well and grew on svidin for several years, but long-term tests were not carried out. I once also made an attempt to graft dogwood plants into the shoots of white svidina at a height of about one meter in order to use svidina as a stem former. The grafts grew well for two years, when the winters were mild, and did not bend to the ground, and were not covered with snow, but in the third year, with a more frosty winter, they froze out. That is, the white svidina did not increase the winter hardiness of the dogwood grafted on it, although I was counting on it. The methods of spring grafting with a cuttings and summer budding with a dogwood eye are no different from similar grafts of other fruit. It should only be noted that when grafting a dogwood with a shank, grafting with butt and splitting is better, and when budding, one should not be late with its implementation in terms of time - the best time in our conditions is July 15-20. In addition, all oculants for the winter must be covered with earth first, and then with snow, so that they do not freeze out in winter.

Afterword

Where should one try to acquire seed and planting material of dogwood to try to grow it in our conditions? First of all, seeds, seedlings and saplings should be imported from places of its growth in botanical gardens and from amateur gardeners in the central zone of Russia and Belarus, secondly - from more southern places of its growth. Seeds, seedlings, cuttings of high-quality cultivated varieties of dogwood can be imported from Ukraine - Kiev, Artemovsk, Crimea or other places, as well as from Moldova.

Dogwood is an amazing plant. It will cure, and feed, and delight in the spring with golden flowers, and in the fall - with a harvest of beautiful fruits. And so, with proper protection before wintering and during wintering, every year for, perhaps, as many as hundreds of years. Plant it - you will not regret it. In conclusion of the article for the seed, I will give one medical prescription of V. and N. Volkovs for the use of cornel fruits. "When treating hemorrhoids, you need to swallow a glass of dogwood seeds at a time, diluting them with anything: bread, meat, cabbage, apples, etc. All this is done slowly. You can take any seeds - fresh from fruits, from jam, compote or just dry, which you have stored for several years. A week after the procedure, you will forget about the problem. One hundred percent result after one session. "

"Ural gardener", No. 6-7, 2010 (abridged)

Photo: Rita Brilliantova, Maxim Minin